[A method for quality assurance in a community mental health center. Community psychiatry in Copenhagen]

The purpose was to describe a method for quality assurance in community mental health centres. Three psychiatrists and a multiprofessional treatment team conceived the method. The community mental health center--which was the basis for the work--was the Copenhagen centre for the sectors Vesterbro and Kongens Enghave. The target group for the centre is people with serious mental illness. The work is done according to the principles for clinical case managers. Data are registered in a national database in combination with the centre's own registration system. Eleven indicators for process quality and eight for outcome quality were selected. Measurement parameters for there indicators were defined. Criteria and standard were defined according to existing knowledge and the author's clinical experience. The necessary programs for calculating the value of the chosen standards are constructed. With the use of existing data and a limited extra registration it was possible to evolve a method for quality assurance in a community mental health centre.